Grieving the Holyspirit.

My experience in various churches has made me conclude that " God is not in most churches" . I just know deep down that the Holy spirit has left many churches. First , we must realize that as born again Christians, " we are the church" . The Holy spirit dwells on the inside of us. We must renew our minds on a daily basis. The emptiness and dryness in most churches gives me a sick feeling deep down. I know that there got to be more than what I am seeing and feeling but "they can't do it " and "I can't do it". The Holyspirit has been given a backseat in most churches because of
1. Flesh is ruling: Where there is quarrelling , gossip, backstabbing and jealousy, the Spirit of God cannot flow freely
2. Church Politics:This is a big one. Church politics occurs in various ways
a. quenching the anointing in the lives of others by frustrating them
b. when leaders feel threatened by upcoming ministers and evangelists so they try to silence them
c. When people start favoring one leader above another instead of looking to Christ alone

3.Focus on man instead of God: Many pastors care more about what the people are saying than about what God is saying. They have been reduced to "Muppet pastors" because of "i don't want my financial members to leave the church"
4. Closed thinking: When members like "same old, same old" . They are not open to new ideas that would foster spiritual growth. They control the church and the pastor

5. Doubt: Jesus could not do many miracles among his people because of the doubt in their minds. Doubt can tie up the anointing big time. Even Jesus could not operate freely.
6. Control : Many leaders have a genuine concern about excesses so they attempt to stop any supernatural claims . They discourage the gift of prophecy etc.
7 . Activity Spirit: I enjoy church activities and meetings. But when a church focuses more on activities than on personal devotion, the church leaders may be spending most of their time in church instead of in the closet with God. The result is that their sermons may become shallow. Someone once said that a 30minute sermon would require about 8 hours of preparation. Remember Jesus often spent all night with God on the mountains.

How can we see a restoration in our churches .
1. fasting: It is a good idea for "hungry Christians" to tune out of every distraction and fall on their faces to seek the Creator. fasting will open our spiritual eyes. It kills the flesh in us and gives rise to the Spirit man.
2. Meditation: We must spend quality time in renewing our minds through the Word of God. I remember a week that I dedicated to reading my Bible .I read about 60 chapters in one day .I experienced an open Heaven.
3. forgiving others: As we seek God, our hearts are softened to ignore offenses and forgiveness is easier. Unforgiveness blocks the flow of the anointing.

In conclusion, church is a 90% spiritual work and 10 % physical work. If we are going to see the outpouring that was prophesied in the book of Joel 2:28 , we must repent of our lukewarmness so that we can experience a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord.